The Curtain Falls
by Big D1
Summary: Begins where Episode 26 ends. Jet and Faye must work together to pay for Spike's funeral. Meanwhile, Ed must help a person who claims to be Spike's Sister. *ON HOLD*
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Cowboy Bebop and its characters are copyrighted and trademark by their respective owners.**

**Note: Text in Italics are quotes from Episode 26.**

**Prologue**

Faye was still standing in the same spot since Spike left. It has been over 3 hours and she was tired from all the tears she had shed. 

"That lunkhead… Why did he go?" she asked herself softly.

But she already knew that answer.

"_I'm not going there to die. I'm going to find out if I'm alive…"_

And with that, he left the ship. Left Jet and her in the sorry excuse for a space ship just so he could get his revenge. All in the name of Julia.

Faye recalled her encounter with Spike's lost love and she could see why Spike had fallen in love with her. She was ordinary, but yet, beautiful; long, blond hair, a flawless face, and blue eyes. But it was those eyes that told a different story. She was dangerous. And she knew that Julia was the kind of person where Spike could not leave in the past.

"_Like an angel from the underworld. Or maybe a devil from paradise…"_

She headed towards the living room, turned on the TV, and flop her self down on one of the couches.

"… And that does it for the weather. Back to you Mark," 

"Thanks Andy. When we come back, we have breaking news from the downtown area on Mars. Explosions and chaos rocked the Red Dragon Syndicate building a few hours ago. We'll take you live to the scene after this commercial break…"

"Jet would probably want to watch this," Faye thought. She was about to get up to find him when she noticed Spike's video communicator on the table. "Well, that lunkhead isn't using it…" She dialed Jet's communicator. It rang a few times before Jet's face came on the viewer.

"Yeah… Faye! Why the hell are y…" he started to say before he saw the look on her face. "What is it?"

"Spike made it on TV. You might want to come down here to watch it," she stated.

Jet gave a solemn look. "I'm on my way."

**Author Notes: This is my first fanfiction piece. Please let me know what you think.**


	2. News Breaks Out

**News Breaks Out**

Jet limped into the room. As he entered he sees Faye sitting on the couch.

"Faye? What's going on?" he asked.

She doesn't answer him. Her eyes were already glued to the TV. He sits down on the couch next to Faye and eyes the TV. An aging black news anchor is on the screen.

"This is CBC News. I'm Mark Rather. We begin this half-hour with breaking news. Explosions and chaos rocked downtown Mars early this morning around 4:00 am. Initial reports indicate that the explosions occurred in the Red Dragon Syndicate Building. For further details, we take you live to the scene with our reporter, Ms. Lei Lee. Lei, what can you tell us?

The screen switches to a young Asian woman. Flashing red and blue lights filled the scene behind her along with the yellow crime scene tape. Behind the tape was the entrance to a building... or what's left of it anyways. The entrance was in shambles. Pieces of concrete and glass liter the ground. And what was supposed to be a metal door frame was now bent up in unbelievable angles. Faye and Jet's eyes opened wide as they watched the scene unfold.

"Mark, the scene here is unbelievable," Lee started. "We were told by ISSP officials that around 4:00am, a lone man entered the building and proceeded to kill and destroy everything in sight.  As many as five explosions were heard into the night."

As she talks, the screen switches to a helicopter shot of the building.  Faye and Jet's jaws dropped in disbelief at the scene.  Holes littered the building, including one huge crater that was supposed to be the roof. Some of the holes still had black smoke coming from them.

"My God, Jet. How many bombs and grenades did he take with him?" Faye asked.

"All of them," was Jet's reply. Faye nodded back.

Lee continued, "As you can see from the 'chopper shots, the building is in absolute ruin with the most damage on the roof. So far, officials report that there are at least 30 men dead and 5 severely injured. Only 20 men were found alive in the building. Police are not stating the condition of the lone gunman."

"Lei," Rather began, "was most of the damaged caused by the lone gunman? It's hard to believe that one man was able to inflict so much damaged. Especially in a heavily armed syndicate building."

"Not if you know Spike," Faye stated.

"Yes, it is rather unbelievable that one person was able to do so much damage. But police are not releasing any more information until 1:00 pm today where ISSP Chief, Darien Star, will hold a news conference," Lee replied.

"Lei, do the police have a motive for this attack?" asked Rather.

"The police are not giving us anymore information, Mark. But like I said, ISSP will hold a news conference and we hope to get the information there. This is Lei Lee reporting live from downtown Mars."

Faye turned to Jet. "Is there still a chance that he's still alive?"

Jet turned to face her and was about to answer her when his communicator rang. He answered it to find his old comrade, Bob, on the screen. "Bob? What's up?"

"Jet, you might want to come to ISSP headquarters," Bob said.

"Why?"

"We want you to identify a body. I think you know who it is." With that said, Bob hung up.

Jet turned back to Faye and noticed the tears in her eyes. "You want to come with me?" he asked.

Faye hesitated for a moment. "Yeah. It'll be my last chance to see that lunkhead."


	3. Down At the Station

**_Author ramblings:__ Hi folks. Sorry I took so long in updating this story. These stories are harder to write than they look. I don't really know where this story is going, but if I know my own mind, it should be an interesting ride. Please read and review._**

**Down at the station**

Jet and Faye entered a building that was supposed to be ISSP headquarters. But it looked like more of a zoo than a police building. The station was packed with people. Cops running through halls with mountains of paperwork in their hands. Phones ringing off the hook. A couple of sergeant's yelling at people. And to top it all off, the media had filled the reception area and was trying to get answers from anyone unfortunate enough to enter their domain.

"Man, what a mess. All this because Spike decided to blow up the biggest syndicate on Mars," exclaimed a bewildered Faye.

Jet just nodded his head. They walked up to the receptionist who was busy answering the telephone.

"Yes sir!" the receptionist yelled into the phone. "There still bringing in the bodies from the crime scene… No, I don't where Sergeant Mason is. Listen, you're going to have to call back later. We are rather busy at the moment, okay. Bye!" She slammed the phone on the hook and brought her attention to the strange looking couple in front of her. "How can I help you?" she asked them.

"I'm here to see Bob. He called me down here about an hour ago," Jet told the receptionist.

"Okay, you're names?"

"Jet Black and Faye Valentine."

The receptionist paused a moment when she heard their names. "Whoa! Did you say Jet Black, as in the Black Dog of Ganymede?"

"Yeah, that's what they use to call me. Anyway, can you tell Bob we're here."

"Sure." She picked up the phone and dialed a number. It rang a few seconds before someone on the other side picked up. "Bob? It's Tammy. Jet Black and Faye Valentine are here to see you. Okay, bye." She turned back to Jet. "He'll be down in a minute. You can wait in the reception area."

"Thanks, but I think we'll wait right here. Too many cameras in the reception area for my taste." Jet replied.

Tammy chuckled at the comment. "Yeah, I don't think I've seen so many cameras in one place in my entire life."

Before Jet could reply back, he sees Bob pushing his way through the crowd to get to them. A few seconds later, he was standing right in front of them. "Jet! Man, it's utter chaos in here. You're partner knows how to start a party."

"Yeah, that was one of his personal qualities," Faye replied.

Bob turned to face her. "Ah, you must be Faye Valentine. Nice to meet you. I wish it was under better circumstances."

"I don't. I prefer to stay away from places like this."

"Why's that?"

Before Faye could respond, Jet interrupted. "Bob, you called me down here to identify a body, right?"

Bob turned back to Jet. "Yeah, why don't you two follow me."

They pushed their way into the back of the station and down a flight of stairs.

"He wasn't in good shape when he found him. He took a bullet in his arm and multiple sword and knife wounds. Including a big gash across his stomach. I'm surprised he didn't fall down and die earlier."

"I'm not surprised," Faye respond. "He was like a Timex watch or the Energizer Bunny. He takes and licking and keeps on going and going."

Bob and Jet gave Faye a confusing look. "What and who?" Bob asked.

"You know. Those stupid commercials with the guys dropping the watch off a building and that pink bunny with the big drum. Haven't you seen those commercials before? They showed them all the time when I was younger."

"I can't say I have. How long ago was that?" Bob asked.

Faye thought for a moment. "About 60 years ago."

Now Bob looked really confused. "60 years ago! But that's before you were born!"

"I was cryogenically frozen for 50 some odd years."

"Oh. Well, you look good for your age." Bob replied nervously.

"Uh, thanks."

They reached a door that was labeled the "Morgue." "Okay, you two go to that room next door and I'll have someone wheal his body over to the window for you guys to have a look."

"Okay," Jet replied. Jet and Faye slowly made their way to the room Bob had pointed to. Jet opened the door and motioned for Faye to go in. When he noticed she wasn't moving, he turned around and looked at her. "What is it?"

"I don't know. I guess I never thought I would see Spike like this," Faye replied.

"Dead?"

"No, an ice cube. I guess this just bring back memories of my time in the freezer. Only this time, we won't be able to cure this body. You would think after all the times we wrapped him us as a mummy he would get the idea."

"Yeah, you would think. But you know Spike. Toss the name Julia or Vicious around and all higher intelligence seems to shut down."

Faye gave a slight nod and they entered the room. The room was rather small. There was a small, wooden table in the center of the room with some folding metal chairs. On one of the walls was the window Bob was talking about. They made their way to the front of the window. At that time, someone was rolling a metal stretcher with a white cloth over what looked like a body. Bob entered the room behind them.

"You two ready?" Bob asked them.

"Ready as we'll ever be," Jet replied.

Bob nodded and gave a signal to the man behind the window. The small slowly pulled back the cloth to revel the man under it. The first thing they noticed was the all too familiar green afro. Then they saw the face. Faye sharply turned around and screamed. Jet remained still for a moment before he responded.

"That's him," Jet replied heavily.

"Okay. We still need to do an autopsy on him, so we can't release him yet. Did you want to handle the funeral, Jet?"

"How much are funerals now a days?" Jet asked.

"About $200,000 Woolongs. Give or take," Bob replied.

"What would happen if I don't handle it?"

"After the autopsy and evidence gathering, we would throw him into a mass grave."

Jet winced. "I don't like the sound of that. I guess we'll handle it."

"Good. I'll call you when everything is complete."

"Thanks."

He turned around to look at Faye who was visibility shaking. "Faye, you going to be okay?"

"Yeah," she whispered.

"All right, let's go home."

They made their way to the outside of the building. Jet was about to descend the steps before he noticed Faye had stopped walking. He turned to face her.

"Faye?"

Not saying a word, she walked up and hugged Jet and began to cry on his shoulder. Jet said nothing and hugged her back.


	4. Meanwhile

**Meanwhile...**

"Francois! Let's go!"

Edward sighed and gave no response. Instead, she kept on doing the thing she did best: surfing the web.  It's been three weeks since she left the Bebop. At first, she was glad to be with her father. But Macintyre and her father were too engrossed in their work. The only time her father paid attention to her was at night. Those nights were always fun. Her father would toss her around like a rag doll and they would laugh so hard that they turned blue. Macintyre had to bring in a canister of oxygen for her father one time when he nearly fainted. 

Then she had the "brilliant" idea to create a program that calculated where the next big meteors would hit Earth. She thought by creating the program would free her father from tracking the meteors. But now her father spends all his time at night planning routes to the next big hit. 

[Flashback]

"Father-person, you could use this program to change the map for you," she stated.

"Ha ha! " exclaimed her father. "That's great, Francois! N..."

"Edward, Father-person! My name is Edward!"

"Oh, sorry Francois. You're program is great. Now we can plan a route each night and arrive before the meteor hits and map it!"

"But Father-person, the program will map it for you."

"I know. But we must be at the spot where it hits and map it at the exact spot. Remember, we are doing this to bring the chaotic Earth back to order. If we don't map the exact spot, the Earth will never come to order."

[End Flashback]

Edward sighed again. She hated her father's work. She thought the whole thing was boring. Even the days when the crew of the Bebop wasn't chasing bounties were more exciting than this. Faye was always thinking up ways to get money from Jet. Spike would practice his kung fu. And Ein and her would explore the many compartments of the ship looking for the "Spooky Alien."

But on Earth, there were no "Spooky Alien" to find. Just miles and miles of rocks and dirt. Just like the way it was before. There was nothing there for Ein and her to explore. Her only entertainment was her "Tomato." But even that had turned into an enemy. For it was only a week ago that she found out Spike had died. She didn't want to touch her computer afterward. But it was the only thing that kept her entertained.

Ein nudged his little black nose on Edward's knee. She stopped staring at the screen to look down at her companion.  She gave him a small smile and scratched him behind his ears. She could tell that Ein was also affected by Spike's death. His eyes did not have the same sparkle as before. Ein was with her, watching the screen, when she found the ISSP report.

"Francois! Come on, girl! We're going to miss the next meteor if you keep playing on that computer!" an all too familiar voice yelled.

She sighed, picked up Tomato, and walked to their vehicle. Ein followed, close behind.


	5. The Meeting

**The Meeting**

"MacEnroe! Hand me that Geographical Mapper!" Mr. AppleDerry yelled.

"It's Macintyre, Mr. AppleDerry," he told him as he handed him the tool. "I've been you're assistant for a few month's now. Why can't you get that right?"

"Like I said, don't fret the small stuff."

"Calling someone by their proper name is a big deal, Mr. AppleDerry. Edward and I would really appreciate it if you call us by our proper names."

"Sure sure, Macintosh."

Macintyre sighed very loudly and started walking away.

"Oh Macin-whatever, can you go see what Francois, I mean Ed, is doing?"

"Yeah, sure," Macintyre replied. He started walking towards the Earth Rover, the vehicle they used to get around Earth. He saw Ed sitting on top of the vehicle playing with her computer. Ein was lying next to her. "Hey Ed! Wha'cha doing?"

Edward looked up and gave him her signature smile. Macintyre nervously smiled back. "How can such a big grin come out of that girl?" he thought to himself. It's not that he didn't like Edward. He thought she was kind of scary. I mean, a preadolescent girl being able to hack into the most secure mainframes in the galaxy, speak an unintelligible language once and a while, and being able to defy the limitations of human flexibility, well, who wouldn't be a little scared. But, he liked the girl. He stopped in front of the vehicle.

"Hi, Mac-person! Did you come to play with Edward?" she asked.

"No, Ed. Your dad wanted me to find out what you were doing," he replied.

"Looking for Spike-person," she said enthusiastically.

"Uh, Ed… Didn't you say he was dead last week?" he asked.

"Yes, Edward said Spike-person was dead. But Edward wanted to find out where Spike-person is now."

"Well, did you find him?"

"Yesss. Spike-person is an ice cube at ISSP Headquarters."

Macintyre gave her a bewildered look. "Uhh, okay. But it's been about three weeks. Why is he still there?"

"Well, the police report said that they performed an autopsy. But doctor-person couldn't figure out why Spike-person died of. So doctor-person called another doctor-person to figure it out. But he couldn't figure it out, and they called another doctor-person and he said Spike-Person died from blood lost from a sword gash across his stomach," she explained.

Now he was really confused. "Wait, why did it take three doctors to figure that out?"

"Because Spike person had three bullets, debris from the building, and a knife stuck in his body. Plus multiple wounds from other things that hit him and he had a bad liver and lungs. They didn't know which one of those things killed him."

"I see, and it took them a few weeks to figure that out?"

"No, it took them a few days to figure that out."

"Then why is he still there?"

"The police report said that they are waiting for Jet-person to get enough money for a funeral."

"Well, that explains it."

"Yep. Do you want to play with Ed now?"

"Sorry Ed. I need to get back to work."

Ed frowned at his reply. "Oh, okay."

Macintyre turned around and started walking back towards the crater.

"Mac-person. Why are you and Father-Person always working?"

Macintyre paused a moment and answered. "You know already. To bring the Earth back to order."

As he finished his sentence, he noticed a woman walking towards them. She walked up to the car and kindly smiles at both Ed and Macintyre.

For a moment, Ed thought she recognized the woman. Something about her brown eyes reminded her of Spike. She got the thought out of her mind as the woman spoke.

"Excuse me. Are you Edward?" she asked Macintyre.

"No. That's Edward," he replied pointing at Edward.

"Hi!" Ed greeted.

"Hi Edward. I need you're help. I'm looking for someone you know."

"Who?" Ed asked.

"My brother, Spike Spiegel."


	6. Back on the Bebop Part 1

Author's ramblings: Hi folks. I'm terribly sorry for not updating earlier. School and life kind of got in the way, especially trying to remember how to assembly program a Motorola 6812 Microcomputer (don't worry if you don't know what I'm talking about. I'm studying to be an Electrical Engineer). Anyway, this chapter is very short. Part 2 will be much longer as I tie in Faye and Jet's story into Ed's story. So, you'll have something to look forward to in the near future. I know it kind of ends badly and you are anxious to find out about Spike's sister. But, you are going to have to wait. Other notes: I've dropped the chapter numbers within my story so not to confuse you. Other than that, please read and I will add part 2, which will tie Faye and Jet to Ed, soon.

**Back on the Bebop (Part 1)**

"Okay Jet. Why am I'm doing this again?" Faye asked annoyingly.

"Simple. We spent our last Woolong patching up the Bebop and we need $200,000 Woolongs for Spike's Funeral and $15,000 Woolongs to repair the Redtail." Jet replied over the intercom.

"I know that already, I meant," as she takes a deep breath, "WHY THE HELL AM I CHASING THIS GUY THROUGH A SNAKE INFESTED SWAMP!"

"Hey, you were the one who shot the guy down into the Venus Everglades."

"Well, if we had used the last of our money to patch up the Redtail, I wouldn't have to use Spike's piece of junk ship to chase this guy with."

"Watch it, Faye. Spike might come back to haunt us with that tone of language."

"I hope he does so I can yell at him for screwing up the targeting system on the Swordfish. I was aiming for the engines and the bullets hit the wings instead!"

"You just got to do what Spike does."

"Which is?"

"Kick it. He told me awhile back that his ship always worked better when he kicked it."

"No wonder you had to fix his ship every time we go after a bounty."

As Faye continued trekking through the swamp, she recalled the circumstances of this ill-fated chase.

[Flashback]

"Jet, how are we going to come up with $200,000 Woolongs plus the money we need to repair the ships?" she asked.

"We get a bounty, that's how we do it." Jet replied.

"Easier said than done. The Bebop's grounded, my Redtail is full of holes, you can barely walk and we only have $5,000 Woolongs in the ship's account. We'll be lucky to buy a metal panel to patch the big missile hole in the side of the Bebop. Let alone be able to go after a bounty."

"We'll have enough to fix the Bebop. If we sell some of Spike's old stuff and some of junk we have around here, it should get us another $10,000 out of that."

She looked around her seeing some of the junk Jet was talking about. There was that video game headset controller that hasn't been used since the time they went chasing after that Londes guy, the VCR that Spike and Jet dug up from Earth a couple of fishing poles, and some other junk. Out of Spike's stuff, there was his clothes including his faded red coat, his signature suit, a white tuxedo, and some undergarments.

"How are we going to get another $10,000 out of this stuff? I wouldn't pay a dime for most of it," Faye commented.

"You'll be surprise how much we can EBay some of Spike's stuff. After the syndicate fiasco, there will be plenty of buyers for some of this stuff. The rest of this stuff we could say Spike used at one time, which is mostly true."

"EBay? There still around?"

"Yeah. Where do you think I got the Bebop from?" he asked.

"Well, I say you got gypped from that site," Faye commented amusingly.

"Ha ha, very funny," Jet commented dryly.

So they EBay all the junk they had and Jet was right. People were willing to pay insane amounts of money for some of Spike's stuff. One of Spike's suits went for $10,000 Woolongs. In the end, they wound up with $25,000 Woolongs. Along with the $5,000 they had before, Jet bought the materials he needed to patch up the Bebop. For the next week, Faye and Jet spent many hours fixing the Bebop.


	7. NOT AN ACTUAL CHAPTER: Story put on hold...

This is not an actual chapter 

For those of you who are interested in what is going to happen next in this story… you're going to have to wait. I've put this story on hold as I finish up Electrical Engineering school. I don't have the time at this moment to sit down and plan what I'm going to write. Hopefully, you'll see a new chapter in mid-May.

Once again, thanks for your interest in this story.


End file.
